In a collaborative effort spearheaded by the Ahrends lab at the ISAS (Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften) in Dortmund, we established a targeted proteomics approach aimed at analyzing components of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), an adaptive signal transduction pathway triggered by the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. The UPR comprises an important cellular stress response that aims at re-instating cellular homoeostasis and it plays a key role in a variety of disorders (including diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and inflammatory processes). It has also emerged as an attractive target for therapeutic intervention in cancer due to its implication in tumor progression, malignancy and resistance to therapy. The newly developed high-resolution targeted proteomics strategy combines high specificity and sensitivity, allowing the accurate quantification of UPR proteins down to the lower attomol range in a straightforward way without any prior enrichment or fractionation approaches. This has allowed us to determine cellular protein copy numbers of UPR receptors, transducers and effectors, yielding novel insights into an important cellular stress response pathway.

 

Read the full manuscript at Scientific Reports: Nguyen et al. A sensitive and simple targeted proteomics approach to quantify transcription factor and membrane proteins of the unfolded protein response pathway in glioblastoma cells.